(Marvel Mystery Comics 004-019, 1940-1941)
Hey look, it's Electro, Marvel of the Age! I love that guy!
Or rather I love Electro's creator/ mental pilot, Professor Philo Zog (later amended to Zogolowski because heaven forfend that someone have a weird name). It's not often that a weird nerd with a scraggly beard gets to be the hero.
I also love Zog's plan: hire a bunch of husky young men to act as his agents in various parts of the US, who then call in Electro as necessary. They eventually get phased out in favour of more Zog-time but I love them while they last. Also, in their first appearance they're referred to as Zog's "Machine of Righteousness" and that's what I think of them as because as a name, it rules.
Zog later shows up in a period piece or two, but it's Electro who eventually gets brung back by J. Michael Straczynski in The Twelve, making this the inaugural edition of THE TWELVE REPORT, a review of just how our pals fared in that book.
Electro got done somewhat dirty by J. Michael: The incident that put the other eleven heroes in suspended animation also severed the mental connection required to drive the robot. and Zog subsequently died of mental withdrawal. It might have taken a while though? His daughter Elizabeth shows up in the series and she is definitely not drown or styled as the 60+ year-old she would have to be if Zog kicked the bucket in 1945.
As for Electro itself, it was basically a narrative device in the book, acting as a combo murder weapon and witness. Ultimately it ends up being driven around the Middle East by the Laughing Mask. Ho hum.
Maybe I'll work out a 1-12 scale of how well I reckon the characters in The Twelve ended up being treated but it's hard to do with only one of them, you know?
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